By any normal human reckoning, you would have to call President Obama's selective precis of the George W. Bush presidency,
delivered at the dedication of the Bush Library, generous and gracious, First he paid tribute to the man:
So we know President Bush the man. And what President Clinton said
is absolutely true -- to know the man is to like the man, because he’s
comfortable in his own skin. He knows who he is. He doesn’t put on any
pretenses. He takes his job seriously, but he doesn’t take himself too
seriously. He is a good man.
Then, to an edited version of his record:
But we also know something about George Bush the leader. As we walk
through this library, obviously we’re reminded of the incredible
strength and resolve that came through that bullhorn as he stood amid
the rubble and the ruins of Ground Zero, promising to deliver justice to
those who had sought to destroy our way of life...